Had the Covid-caused inflation never happened, Harris would have won It's the economy stupid, it's not more complicated than that. All simple Americans care about is the price of eggs and they think Biden did that and heck, the economy (Obama's economy) was good under Trump!
The economy is always important, but I think it goes deeper than that. It's also about the historic decline of industries and the stagnation of living standards. In many ways, the traditional parties are both compromised, but Trump is seen as transcending party politics.
Yes, lots of Americans see Trump as the outsider who is going to smash the system and make things work for them again They are of course wrong, stupidly wrong. Trump is so obviously a con man, he lies about everything. I'll never understand how he fooled so many. Trump is for Trump
Absolutely, but when you have an electorate that's hurting, disenfranchised and disinterested, they're an open goal for simplistic solutions from an 'anti-establishment' [sic] candidate.
The stagnation of living standards began with Reagan and his trickle down economics, the wealth gap has steadily exploded since then. Dems claw it back a little, only for Reps to return to enriching the wealthy Biden had the misfortune of coming into office when all that was coming to a head.
It certainly started with Reagan, and Thatcher over here, but the Democrats and New Labour became fellow travellers on the neoliberal bandwagon, so have to take their share of the blame.